A Service Pattern Language #1
The kick-off
Welcome to our first edition!
We now have 52 working group contributors and are excited to get the project moving!
We’ve launched the group as a space for collaboration and exploration around service design patterns in public services. This month’s focus is on introducing the working group, sharing insights from our kickoff sessions, and setting the stage for what’s to come.
The Kickoff Sessions
Yesterday we held two kickoff sessions across time zones. Participants joined from Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire, India, France, Botswana, and the UK!
Here’s a quick look at what motivated our group:
Learning from a global community and sharing open-source user flows
Exploring department-agnostic design systems and accessible digital services
Developing resources that reflect varied citizen needs and international contexts
Contribution levels
We discussed the 2 levels of contribution, ‘contributor’ who will contribute their experience and feedback on the design patterns we develop and ‘steering group member’ who will be more actively involved (>2 hours per week) in testing and developing patterns.
How we plan to work
We’ll follow the process of group prioritisation > contributor input > steering group development > contributor feedback.
The Use Case
To give ourselves some helpful constraints we will be using the ‘Apply for a construction permit’ use case which was developed and tested with Djibouti in the previous iteration of this working group.
The discussion
Several critical points emerged around the use case, around creating adaptable, end-to-end service journeys that can work across contexts. Here are a few reflections:
Research-Informed patterns: Questions arose about how closely patterns will tie into research insights and whether divergent user needs should guide the development of new personas to test the patterns against.
Consistency vs. flexibility: Many user journeys will require adaptation for unique regional needs. There is a tension between consistency and customisation.
Breaking patterns to find new paths: A theme of “ways to break the patterns” surfaced, encouraging us to challenge assumptions and explore where patterns might diverge or converge across service types and user expectations. For example, in applying for a construction permit, you can foresee some kind of online authentication only if your country has a digital ID system implemented.
Service design should go beyond simply fulfilling requests and instead focus on end goals, for example, users don’t want to apply for a construction permit, they want to get permission to build a house or simply "they want to build a house" as the outcome. This discussion could help form guidance around naming services as part of the service catalogue pattern.
The idea of an internationally applicable framework was discussed, as many government processes are fundamentally similar across regions. By adopting common patterns or reference models, we can develop adaptable, user-centred services that better meet real-world needs in diverse contexts.
Join the Mural Board to add your contributions, we will use this board as our main collaborative space
We encourage members to review the patterns that exist in our chosen use case using post it notes, share cross-over experience that could inform pattern development. Let’s continue the conversations on our Slack channel.
Share what motivates you (board 1)
Choose your contribution level (board 2)
Review the process (board 3)
Review the usecase patterns (board 4)
Link: Our Mural board Password: aservicepatternlanguage
Future Updates
Each issue will cover progress across our focus areas:
Improving Content – Highlighting what’s new and inviting contributions to enhance shared knowledge
Testing Patterns – Updates on patterns in testing and calls for feedback from the community
Developing Patterns – Showcasing new patterns and asking for input on evolving designs
Spotlight Conversations – Deep dives with working group members and collaborators
Sign up to the working group or share with someone who might be interested
From Betty Mwema, Laurence Berry and Stefan Draskic.
